As Australia grapples with an ageing population we are spending more on healthcare than ever before. Nationally, our health systems are under an exceptional amount of pressure to meet both demand and expectations. As the ‘baby-boomers’ move into an older age bracket total health expenditure on this population is projected to become 50% of the nation’s health budget by 2050.Both government bodies and communities recognise that urgent systematic action is needed to address the health needs of the nation. We want and need ‘the system’ to be effective and sustainable long into the future.Currently the model of funding concentrates on Primary Health Care, which represents roughly 36% of total health expenditure. This funding goes on GP services, dental services and public health initiatives to keep people out of hospitals.
Planning and achieving positive population health results should start with the community. The national response to our health system pressures should be place based, meaning communities work together on creating sustainable outcomes that meet their unique needs and priorities.
If local communities agree the health results they want, collaborate around priorities, use data to drive decision making, research, measure and publish progress they avoid two major pitfalls – the lure of a ‘one size fits all’ policy that may or may not address specific community needs and (even more dangerous) someone’s good idea for a pet program.
There are six steps you can employ to get the health outcomes your community wants.
First Step: Planning to Plan.
Failure takes no preparation! It is important that successful health planning is based on thorough preparation. The more prepared, the better the outcomes. This step requires both capacity and leadership development. It lays the foundation, so do it properly. Understand purpose; who should be involved; where health sits in the hierarchy of local governance and gain a mandate to act.
Second Step: Present Situation.
Know your health issues and how you’re performing at addressing them. Data is everyone’s friend so use it to paint the picture and tell your community’s health story. Know what results you want for babies, children, young people, families, older people and special needs groups. Once you understand these outcomes, let data be your designated decision making driver.
Third Step: Co-designing.
Harness community knowledge and awareness. Engage the community and potential partners in co-designing solutions and responses. Data is still your best friend. Gather research and information on what has worked elsewhere and what’s the best evidence in the whole wide world. Then decide what’s going to work for you. Innovate if you have to.
Fourth Step: Priorities.
You can’t do everything. Accept this and get to work. What are the transformational projects that will make the biggest impact to your community? Do those first!
Fifth Step: Co-producing.
Co-produce solutions and effective action by establishing working teams, assessing the impact of present programs and identifying gaps. Always include no cost/low cost solutions. Build capacity.
Sixth Step: Monitoring and Reporting.
You won’t know what you’ve done unless you commit to monitoring and reporting progress. As a community find out how much did we do, how well did we do it and the most important thing who is better off because of our efforts? If you find out no one is…Cease! You’re wasting your time. Publish your scorecard. It lets everyone know you’re serious about change.
Successful health planning lies in good processes that harness the knowledge, resources and energy of the community to work on things that matter and will make the biggest difference to them. By employing a results-based community driven process, specific needs can be met with the knowledge and security of information, data and evidence to back you up.
Cait Kelly
thenoagroup
August 2015